Activists: Siege of Damascus camp grows deadlier

FILE - This undated activist file photo provided by the group Palestinians of Syria shows Israa al-Masri, a baby who later died of hunger-related illness on Jan. 11, 2014 in the Palestinian neighborhood of Yarmouk in Damascus, Syria. Disturbing images of starving children and elderly are emerging from the besieged neighborhood capital Damascus, where forces loyal to President Bashar Assad are forbidding food and aid to enter the rebel-held area. Already, the U.N. estimates more than a dozen people have died of hunger-related illnesses, and some residents are foraging for food in a blockade that reflects a broader government policy of starving out opposition areas in Syria's bitter war. (AP Photo/Palestinians of Syria, File)
The Associated Press

FILE - This undated activist file photo provided by the group Palestinians of Syria shows Israa al-Masri, a baby who later died of hunger-related illness on Jan. 11, 2014 in the Palestinian neighborhood of Yarmouk in Damascus, Syria. Disturbing images of starving children and elderly are emerging from the besieged neighborhood capital Damascus, where forces loyal to President Bashar Assad are forbidding food and aid to enter the rebel-held area. Already, the U.N. estimates more than a dozen people have died of hunger-related illnesses, and some residents are foraging for food in a blockade that reflects a broader government policy of starving out opposition areas in Syria's bitter war. (AP Photo/Palestinians of Syria, File)

BEIRUT (AP) — Starvation and illnesses exacerbated by hunger or the lack of medical aid in a Palestinian camp in Damascus besieged for months by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad have killed at least 85 people, activists said Wednesday.

The Yarmouk camp, located on the southern edge of the Syrian capital, is one of several opposition areas where humanitarian conditions have crumbled under a tight blockade imposed by pro-government forces. Activists and aid groups have accused the military of using starvation as a weapon of war.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said the first person died in Yarmouk in June, and that as of Wednesday a total of 85 people had perished there. Five days ago, activists and residents said the death toll stood at more than 60.

The need to open humanitarian corridors to ferry desperately needed aid into blockaded areas and to relieve civilian suffering has been one of the topics discussed at ongoing peace talks in Switzerland between the Syrian government and the opposition. Despite encouraging signs early in the discussions, no concrete progress has been made on that front.

Authorities recently allowed a few hundred food parcels into Yarmouk in what appeared to be a goodwill gesture ahead the peace talks, but residents said only a tiny amount of aid entered because government officials ordered aid workers to distribute the parcels in an area under sniper fire.

Also Wednesday, Turkey's state-run news agency said the Turkish military fired artillery and heavy machine guns at a convoy across the border in Syria belonging to the al-Qaida-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

The Anadolu Agency said the attack on the Islamic State vehicle was in response to gunfire that had targeted Turkish troops patrolling the frontier at the border in Kilis province. Turkish troops used tanks, self-propelled artillery and machine guns to destroy two trucks and a bus in the convoy, the agency said. No casualty figures were given.

The military declined to immediately confirm the report.

In October, Turkey's military fired artillery at Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant positions in Syria in retaliation for a mortar that had landed near another Turkish military post.

The Islamic State and another al-Qaida-linked group, the Nusra Front, have become a dominant force in Syria's armed opposition, causing jitters in Western capitals and leading to a drop in international support for the rebels.